


Run Into the Night

by LittleBird20



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Denial, Escape, Fluff, M/M, Road Trips, Romance, kind of corny, very sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 07:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1679990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleBird20/pseuds/LittleBird20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He never thought the first road trip he took with his boyfriend would be to run away from all he's ever known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Run Into the Night

The highway speeds away under the tires of the car. Road signs flash by my window every so often, telling me how many miles to this place or that. They mean nothing to me. 

Carlos keeps two hands on the steering wheel and won’t talk to me. He appears tense when he tells me it isn’t safe. I chuckle softly at this. After all, what could be safer than our little community? But I humor him anyway. Part of my brain refuses to stop replaying the events of earlier that day in the radio station. 

I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until Carlos reaches over and grabs my hand as we pass the town limits and it all comes out in a rush. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?” I ask. I’m not angry, merely curious as to why he awakened the both of us from a deep slumber at an ungodly hour of the night to take a road trip. 

He merely repeats his mantra of “it’s not safe” and continues driving. But he gives my hand a reassuring squeeze and somehow that is enough. For now. 

I must’ve dozed off because the next thing I know, the sun is stabbing bright rays of light into my tired eyes and I am groaning myself into consciousness. Carlos – his hands still at ten and two – continues driving, but offers me a small grin to say good morning. His glasses magnify the worry in his eyes and I look away, out at the desert landscape that flashes by. I know to be patient with him. We’ve been together nearly a year now and I’ve come to know his habits and quirks. 

But when the sun is nearly the center of the sky, I can no longer hold my tongue. “I have a show to do tonight, Carlos,” I remind him. “We really should be getting back soon.”

“No,” he says quietly. 

I chuckle. “Of course I have a show to do, silly. Nightvale is counting on me.”

“No, Cecil,” he repeats more forcefully this time. “You don’t have a show to do tonight. Or any night, for that matter. Not anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” The smile on my face feels frozen and even though I keep disagreeing with him, I recognize the signs of denial. He’s right. And I don’t want to admit it. 

“You remember what happened with Lauren and that strange man you thought you recognized.” I nod. “Well, they are running the show now, Cecil. Not you.”

“I highly doubt that, Carlos. And even though you are a scientist and therefore an expert on most things, I reject your hypothesis.”

“You know I’m right Cecil. Daniel is going to have them run the show. And they’ll soon put a price on your head. And mine too.” 

“No, no,” I admonish, the wheels in my brain spinning wildly as I try to come up with some way out of this, some solution to the present situation that does not end with us driving away into the desert, never to be seen again. “Daniel and I are friends.”

“I’m pretty sure you ruined any chance of being friends with Daniel when you locked him in the booth.” 

“You liked it when I locked you in the booth,” I mutter. But even this feeble attempt at innuendo doesn’t deter Carlos from making his point. 

“We’ll talk more when it’s safe,” he says as he takes an exit. I feel dismissed, scolded like a child who can’t accept reality. 

But when I offer to drive to give him a chance to rest, the look he gives me is equal parts helpless and so fiercely protective that I fall silent. I leave the driving – and his pride – to him. 

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to do another radio show. But I know I would give up a thousand adoring listeners for the love of my knight errant in a lab coat.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by one of my very best friends and the conversation we had after the most recent episode of Welcome to Night Vale ("Company Picnic") 
> 
> Love you, Bear!


End file.
